When is the last time you gave your first aid kit an upgrade? Chances are that your backcountry skiing first aid does not match the intensity of your adventures. In this article we will discuss some of the common injuries in the backcountry and how to select a first aid kit for ski mountaineering, backcountry skiing, ski touring, and more winter adventures.
Common Injuries in Backcountry Skiing
Backcountry skiing can be dangerous, full stop. However, that is a reason to get educated and learn rather than just avoid the backcountry altogether.
Avalanche First Aid and Related Injuries
If you have not taken an avalanche course, this is your first step. First aid after an avalanche is a last line of defense and should only be happening after a long series of things going wrong that started even before you clipped into your pin bindings that morning. We highly recommend taking an AIARE accredited course as well as reading books like Bruce Tremper’s staying alive in avalanche terrain.
In Colorado, statistics reveal that one-third of avalanche fatalities result from trauma-related injuries sustained during slides. Picture the sheer destructive force of hurtling over cliffs and sliding into trees at speeds up to seventy miles per hour. For survivors fortunate enough to avoid asphyxia, and trauma-induced fatalities, a spectrum of injuries emerge. These range from minor bumps and bruises to fractures, torn ligaments, and more severe blunt force trauma injuries. The aftermath of an avalanche also introduces the chilling risk of hypothermia, requiring those administering first aid to understand a wide variety of first aid skills and have a well equipped kit. The dynamic nature of avalanche-related trauma underscores the imperative for skiers to equip themselves with knowledge, training, and the necessary safety gear to navigate the backcountry responsibly.
At Peak First Aid, we high encourage everyone to go seek qualified wilderness first aid training. Specific first aid skills are beyond the scope of this article and can be learned in a WFA or WFR course. Some wilderness first aid courses are taught specifically for backcountry skiing and snowshoeing with an emphasis on treating winter hypothermia.
In the winter, rescue may be delayed and you may have to keep an injured avalanche victim alive for hours after an accident before help may arrive. Being prepared to stop major bleeding, splint fractures, stay warm, and manage shock are some of the most important considerations.
Non Avalanche First Aid and Related Injuries
Avalanches often steal the limelight when it comes to backcountry skiing. However, there are other hazards to consider when you leave a resort boundary and the watchful eye of ski patrol.
Trees pose a major first aid hazard
While tree skiing powder is a treat and often a great place to avoid wind and some avalanche issues it comes with its own first aid hazards.
In big snow years and places with big snowpacks, treewells are a major hazard, especially for splitboarders, and can lead to asphyxiation.
When skiing through a densely wooded area, helmets are a must. No first aid kit is adequately prepared to handle a concussion or major head trauma of whacking a tree. Slow down - trees don’t care how good of a skier you are.
Broken Tree branches can be sharp. Impalement, serious lacerations, and other major injuries are possible. You need to be ready to stop the bleed fast if this happens.
Ice Axes and Ice Tools pose a major first aid hazard
Ice axes and ice tools are awesome when they provide the security to travel in steep exposed terrain. However, they are not so awesome when their sharp edges make contact with human skin. You can use your imagination to see the risk to veins, organs, arteries, and flesh from ice tools. Avalanches, slips, falls, dropped tools, ski crashes, and more can send a wayward pick into you. You need to be ready to treat the bleed if this happens. No bandaid is going to fix this.
Sharp Ski Edges
We like our bases slick and our edges sharp. The sharp ski edges can pose several hazards. With cold fingers, it is not uncommon to see a bad hand or finger laceration from a ski edge. When skiers collide, you have essentially knife blades moving over fabric and once they go through the fabric that is your skin and everything below that. Nasty lacerations are a concern. This is especially a concern when skiing with dogs. Pups often don’t understand the danger of skis and can have their legs horribly cut by a ski edge. Fun fact: the tourniquet in Peak First Aid kits is approved for use on K9 legs!
Sharks Under the Snow
The soft blanket of white that we love to ski in the backcountry covers up all sorts of horrors underneath. Sharp rocks, logs, buried barbed wire fences, stumps, mineshafts, and more can all be under your skis. The possibilities are endless for injury. You can’t prepare for every scenario but you can get first aid training and carry a quality first aid kit.
Other Injuries
The backcountry has more ways to get hurt than this article can hold, but also consider torn ligaments and broken bones in ski crashes as well as the risk of running into your ski partners.
This list is designed neither to be comprehensive nor to scare you from going into the backcountry. Hundreds of parties go ski the backcountry every day with no injuries or avalanches and you can too. However, if you ski enough over the years it is inevitable that something will happen to you, a member of your party, or someone else recreating in the area. When that happens, you need to be prepared with first aid training and a quality first aid kit.
What should go in a backcountry skiing first aid kit
The items in a first aid kit for backcountry skiing should be able to address the following key areas:
- Treating Major Bleeding: You need a tourniquet and a pressure dressing
- Splinting and Immobilization: You need a way to secure splinting materials. Backcountry duct tape (Voile Straps) can help but you need more versatility in a strong athletic tape and some sort of pressure wrap.
- Stabilizing Joints and Ligaments: You need an athletic tape as well as a pressure wrap.
- Essential medications: You need prescription medications for your unique needs and the members of your party as well as over the counter basics such as Antihistamine, Antidiarrheal, Antacid, and Pain Relief.
- Wound Management: You need to be able to pack, and cleanly dress wounds, some gauze, bandages of various sizes, moleskin for blisters, and precision tweezers to remove foreign objects are all necessary.
How to choose the best backcountry skiing first aid kit
Once you are ready to purchase a first aid kit there are two basic routes. You can purchase all the items individually and pack them yourself into a pouch you purchase or purchase a pre-built kit.
Making your own first aid kit:
If you have lots of time, patience, and money this can be a great route as you can fully customize what you want. To get premium quality supplies for the key areas of treating major bleeding, splinting and immobilization, stabilizing joints and ligaments, essential medications, and wound management the cost is often around $100. Most of the premium suppliers only offer their products in bulk quantities for professionals so you may need to order 25 yards of Moleskin or 100 unit dose medications to get the best items. This can take a lot of time, trial, and error. Once you have the items together, there is no guarantee that it will all fit neatly into the pouch you have selected. Odd shaped items like a roll of athletic tape never fit neatly with other items in the kit.
Purchasing a pre built first aid kit:
There are quite a few options out there for pre-built first aid kits and, unfortunately, you need to do some research. There are professional kits in the $300-500 range for serious expeditions. These are awesome and can treat all sorts of injuries and provide a high standard of care for a big group of people. The downside? They weigh 10+ pounds often and would take up your entire backpack. On the other end of the spectrum there are small “ultralight” kits that sound outdoorsy with names like Mountain Series, the Hiker, or Adventure. Don’t buy a first aid kit just on the name. Take a look at the contents and compare those contents to the basics of treating major bleeding, splinting and immobilization, stabilizing joints and ligaments, essential medications, and wound management. Think about the long list of injuries possible in skiing noted above. Many first aid kits say they stop the bleed fast but only offer a Combine ABD pad (a large absorbent pad) but offer no way to apply strong consistent pressure to the pad or a tourniquet to stop major arterial bleeding.
That’s why the Peak First Aid kit is built differently. We wanted a kit that would treat the most common backcountry skiing injuries with no fluff. You won’t find superfluous tiny bandages or plastic tweezers. We have sourced the highest quality components available and carefully revised the layout of the kit to pack everything into a 6.5oz pouch that is about the size of an iPhone. Every kit has a tourniquet, pressure bandage, essential medications, peak tape (our special flat packed athletic tape), premium moleskin, gauze/packing material, precision tweezers, and more.
Backcountry Skiing has its hazards, but you can prepare by getting first aid training and selecting a peak first aid kit. It is so lightweight that you’ll probably forget that it is in your pack until the day that it becomes your favorite item in your pack.
Explore confidently.